


They Had Light Inside

by hivecaptor



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Aglionby Academy (Raven Cycle), Angst, Fourth of July, poly dream pack (implied), the dream pack
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-04 17:33:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 440
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25060195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hivecaptor/pseuds/hivecaptor
Summary: Skov will go back to visit them when there is nothing left of the meager stone that they placed there, when K's sunglasses at the base of it are broken or lost or covered in dirt, when the wind and rain have washed away the words written there, 'Remembered.' He'll still visit them then, they all will."Let's go home, Duck," Swan says.None of them move, just stand and stare at the setting sun.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 8





	They Had Light Inside

_Hell is the absence of the people you long for._

Skov sits on the ground and tries to breathe.

Tries to breathe.

Tries to breathe.

He's vaguely aware of Jiang lunging for someone, something. It's probably Lynch. Maybe K's body. 

"You'd better hide," he hisses through perfect graveyard teeth. It sounds far away, as if whispered from across the Aglionby green. So it was Lynch. 

Who was with K then?

He needs to get up, he knows he should get up.

Skov knows Proko's done for. A dream can't survive without its dreamer, but knowing that doesn't make it any easier to see him slumped over the wheel of his car like a marionette that someone cut the strings to.

He can't look at K, he can't stop looking at K. 

The first day back is the hardest.

There's only three of them now, but that's hardly the biggest difference. Nobody looks at them, nobody talks to them, even Lynch turns away from their hollow-eyed mess of a pack, something like guilt in the slump of his shoulders.

Somewhere between second and third hour, Swan places a hand on his arm as they pass eachother in the hall. The rough pad of his thumb runs along the curve of Skov's bicep and he thinks that Swan is looking at him, but he can't take his eyes off of Swan's hand. Oh, how he wishes he could go home and forget.

Skov stands outside of the school, watching the students flow past him in a wave of red and navy blue. He doesn't remember finishing the day, doesn't remember spitting at his fourth hour latin teacher, doesn't remember Swan's arms curled around his own, holding him away from Lynch. 

Jiang is at his side. He doesn't speak. 

Skov feels Swan walk up behind him and slide an arm around his shoulders, pulling him to his chest. Skov doesn't protest. By now, Prokopenko and Kavinsky are buried together in the forest, leaves waving over their heads and knowing no yesterday and no tomorrow, having forgotten time and forgiven life.

Skov will go back to visit them when there is nothing left of the meager stone that they placed there, when K's sunglasses at the base of it are broken or lost or covered in dirt, when the wind and rain have washed away the words written there, _'Remembered_.' He'll still visit them then, they all will.

"Let's go home, Duck," Swan says.

None of them move, just stand and stare at the setting sun.

_"What was it like for you, at the end?"_

_"It was exactly like waking up from a dream."_

**Author's Note:**

> Title and quotes from 'Station Eleven' by Emily St. John Mandel.
> 
> Look, I know I should be writing more Welcome to Night Vale, but it's almost the fourth so I legally have to write some pack fic. There's definitely going to be more. Possibly tonight, more like early next morning as I seem to have become nocturnal. 
> 
> Thank you for reading !


End file.
